After Harry finished his defense lesson, he had made his way to the great hall for dinner and stopped to see Madame Pomfrey for his scheduled checkup. Once she had given him the all-clear, he quickly made his way to the Gryffindor tower to leave his bag and prepare for his lesson with Dumbledore. The meeting was scheduled for 7 pm, but Harry's anticipation found him in front of the old stone gargoyle nearly an entire half hour early.
The gargoyle waited patiently for Harry to whisper 'butterscotch' before moving out of the way and revealing the moving spiral staircase that led up to the headmaster's office behind him. When Harry arrived at the top, he knocked on the old wood door and waited for a call to enter before gently pushing it open. Dumbledore had his pensieve in front of him and was placing some of the memories he had been looking at back into labeled vials before waving his wand and clearing his desk.
"Harry, it is good to see you well." He began with a sad smile on his lips "We were all quite frightened after the incident that occurred, but Madame Pomfrey has told me you healed fully and quickly. How are you feeling?"
Harry nodded "Honestly sir, I feel fine. The last thing I remembered was spotting the snitch and then the next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital wing and a week had passed. I didn't have any recollection of what happened, but everyone has been telling me the story." He said, subconsciously reaching to the side of his head where the bump was still protruding slightly.
Harry had heard from multiple people over the past few days just how truly frightening his fall and subsequent injury had been, but besides a headache when he woke up and that small bump and scar, he didn't have anything to show for it. "I would like to say thank you, sir. Madame Pomfrey told me that if it wasn't for your quick healing and the stabilizing charms you placed on my head and neck the injury could have been much worse." Harry continued gratefully.
Dumbledore waved off his thanks easily. "You must never need thank me for helping one of my students, Harry. I only did what I could to stabilize you until our wonderful healer could do all of the heavy lifting, but you are welcome, nonetheless." He said kindly. "Now, I realize your head may still be in pain following your ordeal and would not want to make matters worse with your occlumency training. So, if you would rather wait, we may instead begin to cover some of the groundwork theory on the advanced spell work we will be starting in the next few weeks."
Harry shook his head. "That sounds incredible sir, but I feel good enough for occlumency. I've already ran through all my exercises and prepared my mind, and I didn't even need a potion for a headache when I went to see Madame Pomfrey this evening." He told him quickly.
Harry had been improving and was getting close to being able to keep one of the most skilled legillimens in Britain, if not the world, out of his mind. He didn't want to miss another week of practice due to this injury.
"Very well." Dumbledore replied, and Harry thought he sounded somewhat proud. "If it does become to much for you at some point, I trust you to tell me, and we may pause or stop as needed. You know your own limits better than I do."
Harry nodded his head in agreement and before he could even sit down in the chair across from the headmaster Harry felt the now familiar presence of someone in his mind. He quickly retreated into his own subconscious and snapped all the loose thoughts into place. He scanned his mind looking for the strange presence and found it.
Dumbledore seemed to be trying something to disguise himself in Harry's mind. He was moving through slowly, not trying to open any of the places where Harry kept his memories. Harry realized that he must be waiting for a thought to slip through his subconscious so he could follow it unnoticed to wherever it may lead him. Harry decided to do something he had been reading about from one of the texts that Sirius had loaned him from the Black library about occlumency.
He allowed a memory of himself in primary school to float out of its hiding place and noticed instantly as Dumbledore made his way over to examine the thought. In the memory Harry was sat in the library reading a children's book on animals in the savannah, the memory was getting to the point where he was reading about cheetahs when Harry pounced. Using the distraction Dumbledore was unprepared for Harry's sudden and somewhat violent rejection from his mind, and before he could react Harry had thrown him out.
Harry allowed himself to revel in the look of surprise that the headmasters face showed before it slipped into a smile. "Well done, Harry." He praised him, and Harry fought to keep from looking away at his mentor's praise. "You purposefully distracted me with a memory so you could take me unaware and reject me from your mind?"
Harry nodded his head, pushing away the thought of taking his headmaster unaware from his mind. "Yes, sir. I read in a book that distracting the person entering your mind makes it easier to get them out because they lose their focus. The book recommended false memories as best practice, but I don't know how to make them, so I just used something innocent that I didn't mind you seeing." He told him with a shrug.
Dumbledore's smile remained on his face. "That was extremely well done, now please take a seat and rest for a moment before we begin again."
Harry did as commanded and before long Dumbledore entered his mind again without warning. This time much more forcefully, but Harry again was able to remove him. And so, they continued. Time after time Dumbledore attempted to read his thoughts trying different approaches that prioritized subtlety, aggression, or speed but Harry not only protected his memories, but managed to reject the headmaster at every attempt.
By the time they finished their lesson Harry was pleased to see Dumbledore seemed to be just tired as he was. Soon a house elf brought a tray containing some biscuits and two mugs of hot cocoa. Harry took his mug and drank deeply, allowing the warmth and the headache potion to wash over him. He was just about to take another sip when Dumbledore spoke.
"I believe you are ready Harry." He told him quietly.
Harry lowered his mug and looked at him confusedly. He pondered what the headmaster was talking about when it dawned on him. "You mean for the prophecy, sir?" he asked.
"Yes. Your occlumency has progressed extraordinarily rapidly. In just under 5 months, you have achieved what it takes many at least a year or more to do." He said pausing for a moment. "You seem to have a natural affinity for the mind arts. Do not misunderstand me, there is still room to improve, and it would be wise for us to continue practicing, but I believe you've reached a point where we can comfortably begin to learn more without fear of Tom using your scar to spy in on your thoughts."
Inside Harry was jumping, but on the outside, he maintained a calm demeanor. "If you believe so, sir." He answered evenly.
Dumbledore just nodded, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. "We can go over it tonight if you would like Harry. The prophecy orb containing a copy of the prophecy remains at the ministry in the department of mysteries guarded by the order, but if you would like to spend a bit longer with me, I could show you the original copy."
Harry nodded his head. He hadn't been expecting this to happen tonight but was glad that it was. It would be the first piece of real knowledge that he would discover regarding why Voldemort wanted him dead as a child. "Yes, sir I would like to know."
Dumbledore nodded and with a wave of his wand the pensieve came from its place on the far wall. Harry watched as Dumbledore first adjusted the stone basin on his desk and then reached his wand to his head, withdrawing a silver strand of the not quite a liquid and placing it in the bowl. "Are you ready Harry?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Very well, let us go see times long past." With that Dumbledore touched his finger to the memory and Harry followed suit.
After the uncomfortable sensation of falling in every direction subsided, Harry landed on his feet solidly next to the present-day Dumbledore. He recognized where they were as he had been there just a few weeks prior. The Hog's head was shrouded in darkness and rain hit against its walls as Harry watched a similar but different Dumbledore make his way to the entrance of the old pub and inn and push it open. The memory headmaster greeted the same old barkeep who had served them butterbeer at their defense meeting with a kind word and a smile, but the barkeep just grunted and gestured to the stairs leading to the inn above the pub.
Memory Dumbledore made his way up and went into a room and Harry followed. On the other side of the door Harry was surprised to see Professor Trelawney seated there speaking with the headmaster. It was obviously an interview and it sounded as though it was going rather poorly, a thought which the present-day Dumbledore seemed to notice.
"We had just lost our previous divination professor and I had been interviewing for the role. It had been a few months and I had yet to find a suitable replacement." He told him quietly, as if he didn't want to disrupt the ongoing interview. "I must admit during this interview, I was pondering looking across the channel for a professor, seeing as she didn't really have a clue what she was talking about.
"I had known that her great grandmother was a true seer and well versed in prophecy and divination but was disappointed to see she didn't possess those same skills. It is at this moment when I was preparing to end the interview that she had the prophecy." Harry watched as Trelawney seemed to fall into a trance-like state, like she had his third year.
The words began to flow out of her mouth and it was not in her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in the harsh, hoarse tones Harry had heard her use once before, like many tortured voices were speaking all at once. He shuddered involuntarily at the sound.
"THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES…
BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES…
AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT…
AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER, FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES…
THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH
MONTH DIES…"
Before Harry could contemplate the words, he felt himself being twisted and pulled off of his feet and then found himself back in the headmaster's office, seated in the same chair he had been in.
The silence within the office was absolute. Neither Dumbledore nor Harry nor any of the portraits made a sound. Even Fawkes had fallen silent. "Professor Dumbledore?" Harry said very quietly, as Dumbledore was still staring at the Pensieve, seemingly lost in thought. "It — did that mean — What did that mean?"
"It meant," said Dumbledore, "that the only person who has the power to defeat Lord Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago. This boy would be born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times."
Harry felt as though the room was closing in upon him. Kill or be killed. His breathing seemed to become strained. "It means — me? I have to…?"
"It does." Dumbledore agreed quietly. "At the time it could have been one of two candidates. Sibyll's prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom." He said his eyes never leaving Harry's face.
"We did have one small mercy at that time. Voldemort's information about the prophecy was incomplete." He continued "The Hog's Head Inn, which Sibyll chose for its cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say, a more interesting clientele than the Three Broomsticks, as I'm sure you and your friends noticed." He said, referencing their 'secret' meeting and showing that he did know more than he let on.
"It is a place where it is never safe to assume you are not being overheard. Of course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sibyll Trelawney, that I would hear anything worth overhearing. My — our — one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building.
"I hired her then to keep Voldemort from being able to use her to get the remainder of the prophecy, despite her having no recollection of ever even uttering it and Voldemort, armed with just the first two lines, set out to destroy the child of the prophecy."
The headmaster continued to look at Harry and when he realized he wasn't going to respond continued. "He chose you. Deemed you to be a greater threat than Neville. He went to your parent's home on that Halloween night, and he gave you the scar that has proved both blessing and curse. In doing so setting the prophecy into motion. Marking you as an equal and arming you with a power he knows not. It is for this reason that the Dark Lord is drawn to you and continues to pursue and attack you. Ever since you escaped last year, his sole focus has been securing the prophecy so he could hear it in its entirety and discover how to kill you."
"So… I have to kill him, or he kills me… That's it? It falls to me?" Harry asked slowly.
Dumbledore nodded sadly. "Prophecies are fickle, but this one seems to be running its course. You were born as it said you would be, marked as an equal," He said gesturing towards his infamous scar, "and you do, or will, possess a power that the Dark Lord knows not." He told him; pain written across the aged lines of his face. "I am unsure if you must kill him, but I am also unsure of how else we may interpret the word vanquish." He finished sadly.
Harry was just staring dumbly at the headmaster unsure of what to say. Finally, he settled on a few questions. "Who was the person eavesdropping? And what is this power I'm supposed to have that he doesn't know?"
"Alas, your first question I cannot answer Harry." When Harry made to reply Dumbledore held up his hand, "I swore an oath that I would never divulge that information. I am sorry, I truly am, but I cannot answer. As for your second question it is one, I have pondered time and time again." He continued his eyes becoming glossy as he lost himself in thought.
"I had thought it possible you had some power in the scar he gave you, but I am no longer so sure of that, I had even considered your wand and the shared cores to be a possibility, but I no longer believe that is it. My most recent thought is that it could have something to do with love, which is something Voldemort could never know, but again I am unsure." He said sounding more tired than Harry could remember.
"I will continue to ponder it and let you know if I discover anything. Did you have any more questions, Harry?" he asked.
Harry thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind. "No, sir. Not anything I can think of right now at least." He responded. "This is… a lot. To take in, that is."
Dumbledore nodded. "If you do think of something my door is always open." He told him before continuing. "Next Sunday let us plan to meet earlier, maybe after breakfast. We can go into the ministry and secure the prophecy, eliminating both the risk that he secures it, as well as the risk that one of the order members protecting it will be harmed." Dumbledore told him. "We could take it to Grimmauld, and have it destroyed, and you could spend a day with Sirius if you would like?" He finished in a questioning tone.
Harry thought that spending a day with Sirius sounded lovely, especially after this news and he quickly agreed. "That sounds great. Thank you, sir." He replied.
Dumbledore nodded. "Very well, one last word of advice Harry, if I may be so bold." Harry inclined his head and Dumbledore continued. "This prophecy should not be shared if it could be helped, but it will be a burden on you. Burdens become half as light when we share them with another and lighter still if we were to share it with two. Do you understand what I am saying?"
"Yes, sir. I'll uh… share it with Ron and Hermione… eventually sir." He responded.
"In your own time, I know it is a lot to process." He replied brandishing the familiar note Harry always left the office with. "If there is nothing else than I bid you goodnight, and I will see you next week." He said, "And I meant it Harry, my door is always open for you."
Harry took the sheet of parchment, said his farewells, and made his way to Gryffindor tower in a stupor as he contemplated all he had just heard.
Despite the late hour when Harry returned to the common room Ron and Hermione were still waiting for him. They were seated on the couch nearest to the hearth, the glowing embers inside the last remaining proof of an earlier fire. It had become normal for them to wait for him after his lessons with Dumbledore. Harry suspected it may have something to do with them wanting to make sure they were there for him after they had ignored him for most of the summer prior to his arrival at Grimmauld, but his lesson had gone so long he thought that they would have gone to bed by now.
As they stirred and made room for him on the couch besides them, Dumbledore's words ran through his head. 'Burdens become half as light when we share them with another and lighter still if we were to share it with two.' He had said, but Harry wasn't sure he was ready to share it with them so soon. He wasn't sure if he would ever be ready to share it with them if he were being honest. How do you tell your best friends that fate has decided he either needed to kill the most feared dark lord in 100 years or be killed by him in return?
Harry shuffled onto the couch between them muttering a response to their greeting. "I really thought you two would have called it a night by now, it's past midnight and we have double charms first thing in the morning." He told them once he had settled into the couch.
"We were just about to call it mate." Ron responded honestly through a yawn.
"I really wanted to talk with you tonight regarding a schedule for our defense meetings and show you something I've been working on… I couldn't wait until tomorrow." Hermione said pulling three large gold coins out of her bag and handing one to Harry and Ron.
Ron looked excited at being handed a galleon, but Harry was confused. Hermione seemed to read his expression and answered the unasked question. "They're not real galleons." She said quickly and Ron's face flashed with disappointment briefly.
"I've been thinking about how we can best get in touch with everyone who wants to be a part of our study group. Seeing as we are forbidden from practicing practical magic for defense, it wouldn't be wise to use word of mouth if we can help it because there would be a higher chance of us being overheard. That's where these come in."
As she finished speaking, she took out her wand and tapped it to the galleon in her hand. Harry felt his own galleon warm and looked down in surprise. "It's called a protean charm, and all of the other galleons will change to the reflect the change I made when I charmed it just now." She explained "You can see where the serial number usually is." She said pointing to the long string of numbers usually found on the bottom of a galleon.
"I rearranged the numbers for the date and time of the meeting. I was inspired by the mirrors you and Sirius use, but they weren't practical for so many people and seeing as I had to make 30 of them..." she trailed off.
Harry nodded his understanding and looked at the numbers and sure enough saw 17111900. The 17th of November at 1900 or 7 pm. Harry was impressed with the magic and the idea, but before he could tell her so, Ron spoke up "Brilliant." He said looking at Hermione in slight awe. "Bloody brilliant."
"Yeah Hermione, this is incredible. We'll still have to use word of mouth for the first meeting, but this will be a huge help going forward." He agreed and she blushed under their praise. "Is that the actual date for the first meeting?" He inquired.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about actually. I think it would be a good day. I double checked and there are no quidditch practices scheduled, none of the 5th year prefects have patrols and it wouldn't be a school night." She told him.
Harry nodded as he thought for a moment. "I think that would be good. I still need to throw together a lesson plan, but I realized while patrolling with Daphne just how badly our first two years messed up the foundation for our defense education. I think we should cover the basic theory behind defense and then maybe start with a spell that most people should know just to see where they're at."
Hermione smiled widely "That's great Harry! Do you think you need help with the lesson planning, or do you have an idea of what you want?" She asked him, trying to keep her voice low and the excitement at bay, but Harry thought it was endearing how much this meant to her.
"No, I should be able to handle this first lesson. Like I said I basically went through the same thing with Daphne about a month ago. Once we have a better understanding of where everyone is though, I would love some help." He told her and she nodded immediately.
"I won't be much help with the planning, but if you need someone to practice with beforehand or help you demonstrate I'd be more than happy to help." Ron chimed in.
"That would be great, thank you." After a slight pause Harry spoke up again. "All right, so we're really doing this. We have four days to let everyone know and prepare for the lesson." He saw his own determination mirrored in their faces and Hermione began to assign them who they would need to tell.
After a few more minutes of planning Harry and Ron bid Hermione goodnight and made their way into their dormitory. Harry had nearly forgotten about the prophecy until Ron asked him quietly how his lesson had gone as they were getting ready for bed. He told him that it went okay and thought that maybe he would call Sirius tomorrow to discuss it with him.
While he didn't feel comfortable sharing it with Ron or Hermione just yet, he knew there was truth in the headmaster's advice and sharing the prophecy might very well help with the turmoil he was feeling, and besides that he hadn't called his godfather in nearly two weeks because of his injury and wanted to talk to him. With a plan in mind Harry drifted off into a restless sleep.
Daphne awoke Wednesday morning feeling slightly excited. She had spent close to an hour with Harry in the hospital wing on Saturday and Sunday and had a wonderful time talking with him but had seen frustratingly little of him since he had been released.
He had become more friendly, talking to her and Tracey in classes despite Malfoy's protestations, and even making short conversation with her in the halls. But now that she had worked out her feelings, she craved deeper conversation with him like she had with him on patrols and in the hospital wing.
That was why when she awoke, her first thought was of her scheduled patrol with Harry this evening which would be their first patrol together in over 2 weeks due to his injury. She wasn't ready to tell him how she felt just yet, but she did want to lay the groundwork and see if maybe he would indicate that he liked her back. She pulled herself out of her thoughts and got up out of bed. As per usual she was the first one up and she walked quietly on bare feet to the bathroom where she prepared for the day.
Wednesdays were light for Daphne as the majority of the Slytherin courses for that day were electives she hadn't chosen to partake in like divination and Care of Magical Creatures. She did have Charms this morning, but the rest of her day could be used to catch up on the work she had fallen behind in.
Her day passed quickly. After breakfast and her sole class, she had spent time with Tracey finishing up the work she had been putting off before spending her afternoon with Astoria and writing her parents a letter.
Dinner had come and gone and before she knew it, she was making her way to the familiar fourth floor corridor. She had become nervous as she waited and so she made her way there a few minutes earlier than usual, planning to use the extra time to compose herself. Her plan fell apart when she turned the corner and saw Harry Potter leaning against the wall in a familiar pose and wiping his wand with his robe.
Daphne had been determined to play it cool, but when he looked up and caught sight of her, she could see him smile that small smile that reached his eyes and made them crinkle slightly on the sides. He lifted his hand up in a small wave and Daphne felt slightly overwhelmed that he wasn't even trying to hide his happiness at seeing her.
Before she realized what she was doing, she was on the tip of her toes wrapping her arms around his neck and putting her face into the crook of his shoulder. He smelled of spearmint and the treacle tart that he had at dinner and his scent combined with the feel of him left Daphne feeling intoxicated.
It took him a second to adjust to the contact like it had done every other time she had hugged him, but he relaxed quickly putting his own arms around her and returning the hug. "Hey, Daph." He said into her hair and Daphne bit her tongue to hold back a sigh of contentment.
She pulled back and smiled at him. "I know we've spoken since you got out, but it really is good to see you walking around and doing well." She told him, hoping that the excuse of his injury would keep him from questioning her sudden intimacy.
Harry smiled at her and finished disentangling himself from her embrace. "If I'd known that all it would take for you to treat me so nicely was a significant head injury, I would have thrown myself off a moving staircase ages ago." He told her with a smirk.
Daphne smacked his arm and he pretended that it hurt while she called him a prat under her breath. They began to let their feet carry them down their familiar route. "So, how have you been feeling? Are you still having any pain?" Daphne asked.
"Honestly, not too bad. I still need to go and see Madame Pomfrey every evening to make sure nothing is going on, but I feel fine. If it wasn't for her constantly warning me not to, I might've considered going for a fly." He told her and Daphne felt worried at the thought.
"You have to be careful, Harry." She told him, bumping her shoulder into his. "That was a scary injury, you should listen to what she tells you."
Harry rolled his eyes bumping her back, but she could hear the smile in his voice when he responded. "Now you sound like Hermione. Besides, even if I did want to fly I couldn't. Hermione has me under constant supervision it feels like. Sometimes I miss being able to miss classes like I did last year for the tournament cause then she wouldn't be able to fuss over me all the time."
"I'd forgotten about that." She told him honestly. "It didn't seem like you missed too many classes last year anyway."
"I was so inexperienced that most of the time the best training for the tournament was just going to classes and trying to learn basic things that the other competitors had already studied." He told her and Daphne nodded her head at the logic. "And besides, Hermione would skin me if I missed classes when I could've made them."
Daphne laughed. "I believe that." She said between her chuckles before continuing "It's nice having you back for patrols." She realized belatedly that she had said that second thought out loud. Harry smiled at her raising an eyebrow and she cursed her carelessness around him.
"They had Terry Boot pick up your shifts and he was fine, but I swear he would not stop talking about schoolwork. I've never heard someone so interested in Arithmancy before." She lied, trying to get out of the uncomfortable position she put herself in. "And besides, now that I know that basilisk story is true, I've been dying to know the details."
Harry just nodded. "Well, I missed my patrols with you too." He said after a moment and Daphne was hoping her blush wasn't too noticeable. "It's nice to just talk with you and joke around and not have to worry for a couple hours." He told her and Daphne was once again blown away by his sincerity. 'Harry never lies' Hermione had told her, and she was learning firsthand how true that was. "What details did you want to know?" He asked and it took her a few moments to realize he was talking about the basilisk.
"Well, I know you had already told me, but I thought you were having me on until Terry mentioned that one of the portraits said you had actually killed a basilisk with a sword, so I guess just how does that… whole situation happen?" She said after a moment, trying but failing to find an eloquent way to phrase the question.
Harry laughed, but she could see there was a sadness in his eyes too. "It is pretty unbelievable to think about, so I don't blame you." He started and then began to recount the story as they walked together.
He started at the beginning of the year, telling her how he had learned he could speak parseltongue. He told her how they had thought Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin, but they had been wrong. He explained how Hagrid had been wrongly accused and arrested but not before giving them advice. How he and Ron had used that advice and had gone into the forest searching for a clue only to come across an acromantula nest.
The entire time Daphne was enraptured. She watched him as he spoke, attempting to imagine the things he was describing and struggled. If it had been anyone but Harry, she would never have believed the story, but Hermione's words again rang in her mind.
As he spoke, she couldn't help but notice the way he told the story. He was constantly praising others while downplaying his own role in this nightmarish adventure. He praised Ron's bravery when they went into the forbidden forest and Hermione's intelligence when she had been clever enough to figure out it was a basilisk and use a mirror before being petrified. He even managed to give more credit to a muggle transportation contraption for escaping the acromantulas than he did himself.
"Once we had figured out it was using the pipes and the entrance was in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, we went to tell Lockhart because he was supposed to be preparing to fight the monster, but instead we found him packing trying to make a quick getaway." Harry continued with a scowl on his face. "He admitted to us that he was a fraud and would get his heroic stories from others before obliviating them. We couldn't let… uh the student die so we disarmed him and forced him to come with us at wand point." Harry said and Daphne knew he was purposefully protecting the identity of whoever the student had been.
Throughout the entire story Daphne couldn't believe what she was hearing but had said almost nothing. She didn't want to interrupt him with how engrossed she was in the story. She didn't even realize their feet had carried them back to the familiar meeting place where they saw the two 6th year Gryffindor prefects waiting for them.
Harry greeted them by name and gave a quick report while Daphne waited impatiently. When they had set off to begin their own patrols, she grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him quickly into a nearby unused classroom. "I'm not letting you stop the story now when you're just about to reach the end." She told him and Harry chuckled allowing himself to be dragged along.
Once they were comfortably settled in the dusty chairs, he picked his tale back up. "So, we made it to Myrtle's bathroom and talked with her. She explained that there was a tap that never worked and sure enough when I checked it there was a snake on it. Why the great and powerful Salazar Slytherin decided to make the entrance to his legendary chamber in a girls loo I'd rather not think about." Harry said with a frown and Daphne rolled her eyes.
"I found out that to use the tap I had to speak parseltongue. When we managed to get it open, we slid down the tube and into the Chamber. Lockhart, the fraud, pretended to faint and nicked Ron's wand off of him giving us this grand speech about how he was going to obliviate us and then say we went crazy at the sight of the students dead body. Only, he didn't know Ron's wand had been broken most of the year and when he cast the spell it backfired and hit him instead causing part of the ceiling to come down, separating me and Ron. From what I understand they never could undo the obliviation he hit himself with."
Daphne was shocked at the revelation. Not only had they had to fight off acromantulas and basilisks, but a psychotic defense professor as well? "Because of the ceiling collapse I had to go by myself. I eventually found the entrance to the actual chamber, and I found the student who he had kidnapped lying there, she was almost dead. It tuned out that the heir of Slytherin was actually Tom Riddle and he had been possessing this student throughout the year using a cursed diary."
"Tom Riddle?" Daphne queried thinking the name may have sounded familiar but unsure how or why.
Harry nodded and used the same spell Tom did in the chamber. TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE appeared in glowing letters. "He explained to me what he had been doing, how he had possessed the student and was setting the basilisk loose. It turns out he was setting a trap for me. He knew I would come down to save her and he wanted to kill me because I had killed him."
Daphne's confusion skyrocketed at that point, who had Harry killed? Before she had a chance to ask what he had meant Harry flicked his wand and the letters rearranged themselves in the air. They now read I AM LORD VOLDEMORT instead, and Daphne gasped. Harry had fought the Dark Lord at 12-years-old?
"Somehow, he had made his diary into this dark artifact that would allow him to possess others and he was trying to use it to come back. I'm not sure what his plan was, but he was talking about how with Dumbledore gone he could do what he liked in Hogwarts, and I just wanted him to know that he wasn't gone, so I called for Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix. He came and he brought the sorting hat with him."
Harry saw the confusion on her face and quickly said "It'll make sense in a second. Voldemort..." Daphne shuddered at the name, and he rolled his eyes "…summoned the basilisk then. I knew I couldn't look it in the eyes, but thankfully Fawkes was already two steps ahead. He flew over top and managed to claw out both his eyes. I still had no chance of killing it, but when I recached inside of the sorting hat in desperation, a sword came out. It turns out it was the sword of Gryffindor.
"The snake was blind but could still sense me with his tongue and was striking at me. During one of the strikes, I managed to drive the sword up through the roof of his mouth and into its head, while it was writhing in pain it bit down and I got impaled with a fang that snapped off."
"That's not possible, you would be dead in minutes, probably sooner." Daphne said curiously, no accusation in her voice.
"You're right." Harry said. "Voldemort told me as much. It felt like I had fire coursing through my veins instead of blood and I knew I was dying. I looked around and knew there was no one there to help. I saw the student lying there pale and lifeless and Voldemort looking almost as solid as you and me. The basilisk was dead, and the sword was still in its mouth. The diary was next to me. He was laughing at me, telling me he expected more. That he won and I was dying." He said, his eyes glassy as he was pulled back into that moment.
"I- All I knew was I couldn't let her die. I couldn't let him win. It didn't matter if I died, but I couldn't let her die too. It was hard to do, but I grabbed the basilisk fang from my arm," He mimed the action "and yanked it out. It hurt just as much coming out as it did going in. Before he could stop me, I stabbed the diary and it let out this unholy scream and spewed ink out like a fountain. I heard him scream and then everything started to go fuzzy and black."
Daphne felt the moisture in her own eyes as he recounted the story to her. "Just as I was about to pass out, I heard Fawkes singing a song and I thought at least I get to hear that before I died, but then the next thing I know he's crying into the hole in my arm."
Harry pulled his sleeve up and showed her a large white circle on his tricep before flipping his arm over and showing an even larger hole on the other side. "The fire in my blood faded instantly and all the pain disappeared. The wound closed and this was all that was left. Fawkes took me and the student over to Ron and Lockhart, who didn't even know his own name, and flew us out of the chamber."
Daphne's tears were falling, as she stood up making her way over to him. Harry had a weary look on his face, but accepted her hug, nonetheless. "You brave, stupid, brilliant Gryffindor she muttered into his shoulder and Harry laughed.
"You're the first person I've said that story to since Hermione woke up and I told her." Was his response.
Daphne tightened the hug "Thank you for telling me." she said quietly.
Harry shrugged as much as he could despite the hug and said, "We're friends, I don't mind telling you, but maybe next time a happy story, or you can tell me something?" He asked and Daphne nodded.
"Okay," Daphne nodded "next patrol I'll tell you a story."
Harry shrugged again. "Why wait until our next patrol? I could use some help with the rune's homework. Iif you're free tomorrow we could do it together in the library, and if we have time, you could tell me then." He answered.
Daphne broke the hug as her stomach did another one of the somersaults that only Harry could seem to cause, and she agreed quickly.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Harry pulled out a galleon and handed it to her. He explained quickly what it was, and Daphne begrudgingly admitted it was a great idea and impressive charm work that Hermione had come up with. He told her the date and time and then asked her what time would work for her tomorrow. With their plans made Daphne snuck in another quick hug before wishing him goodnight and heading to her dormitory.
As she walked, she couldn't help but think that tonight had been an incredible night. Not only had he opened up to her, but he also had asked her on a study… date? She would worry herself about the technicalities later, for now she was going to revel in the time spent together. As she walked her memories drifted to the hug they had shared after he had recounted his story. She remembered his scent, and the warmth his body radiated and thought she may be becoming addicted to both. With those memories at the forefront of her mind, she smiled and made her way down to the dungeons.
Daphne and Tracey just arrived to the seventh-floor corridor Harry had told her about, Astoria in tow. She saw Hermione standing in front of a door that she had never seen before, and when she saw them she quickly ushered them inside.
Daphne had been expecting a classroom, or maybe a room that had once been used for one of Hogwarts legendary dueling clubs, but instead she saw a large room with padded walls. On the left-hand side there were mannequins or dummies like they had sometimes used in defense for spells they couldn't practice on each other. The floor was padded and there was enough room that every member could practice with each or the dummies.
On the right-hand side bookshelves lined the walls in what looked like a mini subsection of the Hogwarts library. Just in front of those bookshelves was an area with benches where she saw several students already seated discussing amicably with one another. The last thing she noticed was the large, raised platform that could only be for dueling. This one however was much larger than the one they had used in second year.
The trio of Slytherins made their way over to the benches and sat down. Daphne caught sight of Harry talking with Neville Longbottom. He must have felt her eyes because he glanced up and looked at her. When he saw her, he smiled softly and inclined his head in greeting before going back to his conversation with Neville.
Daphne had to suppress her own grin. Last night she had spent the evening with Harry in the library. They had gone through their runes homework quickly and Daphne had discovered that Harry had an adorable crinkle between his eyebrows when he was focusing really hard.
After finishing the assignment Daphne kept her promise and had given him a story just like she said she would. The story she had chosen was nowhere near as long or interesting as Harry's. She instead chose to tell him about one of the first times she could remember having an outburst of accidental magic, which just so happened to also be the day she and Tracey had become friends.
The story was simple, she had been part of a small tutoring group like most purebloods and several halfbloods who were born in the magical world were. Among her group was Tracey Davis, Millicent Bulstrode, and a few others. It had been Daphne's birthday and the last day of tutoring before their Christmas Holiday. Daphne had always hated having her birthday two days before Christmas, but on that day the just-turned-seven-year-old was especially annoyed.
She had sat there most of the class, staring at the clock annoyed that her parents made her come to class despite it being the last day before break and her birthday to boot. After several hours of staring, she had finally been able to will it to move forward, stating that the time was 3 hours ahead of where it had been. Daphne could barely read the clock at that point, but she knew what it looked like when their old tutor let them leave and her magic did the rest.
The aged instructor had woken after dozing off and seeing the time had sent the students on their way. The students were so excited at the prospect of leaving early that they grabbed the floo powder and left home as quickly as they could, but Tracey's parents were working and wouldn't be home. She had tried to voice this concern to the instructor, but Daphne, who was scared her plan would unravel, invited her to come over to her house until her parents got home so they could play together.
In their fun, the two seven-year-olds had lost track of time and Tracey's parents went spare when she didn't arrive. It got even worse when they went to visit the old tutor to see what had happened only to find that she had left for the holidays.
Convinced that their daughter had been kidnapped the aurors were called and began to make their way to the other students' homes to check if anyone else was missing. When they got to Daphne's home, they found the two girls playing together in Daphne's magical kitchen set with the help of their elf Missy.
Tracey's parents had been relieved and the Greengrass parents had been embarrassed by their unwilling role in this debacle, but when Tracey's parents came to take her home, she cried and refused. Only with the promise of future playdates did they get her to leave with them. After that the two girls had been inseparable. Tracey had been the main reason Daphne chose Slytherin over Ravenclaw when the hat had told her she would do well in both.
Harry listened to her story entranced as she went over her childhood, and she figured it must be because he grew up in the muggle world. After the story, they had spent another hour together just talking and enjoying the easy banter between the two of them. Harry continued to tease her about winning their bet while Daphne argued that he didn't really win if he couldn't remember it. Eventually the old librarian practically shoved them out of the library so she could lock up, but Harry had walked her back to the dungeons.
Daphne heard someone coughing and snapped out of her thoughts to look over at Tracey. "You could at least make your staring a little less obvious." She whispered to Daphne. "You look like the youngest Weasley."
Daphne scowled at her. "I was not staring; I was simply thinking. Something that I know is hard for you." She replied pompously and Tracey snorted.
"Well think in another direction, it looks like Chang is ready to hex you and the class hasn't even started yet." Daphne surreptitiously glanced in the direction that Tracey had nodded and saw that sure enough the pretty Asian girl was glaring in their direction.
"Point taken."
Tracey was about to reply when Hermione spoke up as the last two students to enter, the Weasley twins, took their seats. "Hello everyone, thank you all for coming. First thing first, for those of you who haven't received one, yet this is what we're going to be using to let you all know when there will be future lessons." She said pulling out the galleons and explaining how they worked.
"Next, I believe we should have a name, just to make it easier for us to reference or discuss our group without being overly overt." She said.
"How about the Umbridge sucks eggs club?" Said one of the twins and Daphne rather liked that suggestion and could see Tracey nod in approval as well.
"I was thinking something that wouldn't get us detention if a professor heard it." Hermione shot back with a roll of her eyes.
"The only teacher who'd give us detention is Umbridge." Said the other twin. "I'm pretty sure if McGonagall heard the name she'd want to join too." He finished and the group laughed.
"How about the Potter Defense Club?" Asked a young Gryffindor who Daphne imagined had to be one of the Creevey brothers that Harry seemed to fear more than the Dark Lord.
"I'd rather not have my name be in the club's name but thank you Dennis." Harry said politely with a strained smile. "Defense Club on its own may be a shout, though." She saw the young Gryffindor beam at his praise.
"Maybe the Defense Association? Or DA for short so we can talk about it, and no one would be any the wiser?" Said Chang, and despite it being the best suggestion so far, Daphne thought her idea sounded stupid.
"The DA sounds good," Said Ginny Weasley "but instead of Defense Association why not do Dumbledore's Army? You guys did say that she said she believes he's raising an army in your lesson the other day, we may as well strike fear into her heart if she ever catches us."
Daphne thought that the idea was a poor one. If they did get caught with that name it would just prove that the fears Umbridge and Fudge had were justified and that it could come back to bite them, but everyone began to agree with the youngest Weasley, and Daphne was not brave enough to talk over them and voice her opinion.
With the majority in agreement, Hermione wrote the name 'Dumbledore's Army' in her neat script at the top of the parchment and pinned it to the wall next to the door.
Harry stood up next. "All right everyone, today we're going to go back and cover the basics of defense. Our instruction our first couple of years at Hogwarts was questionable at best, and there's no point in trying to go further if we don't understand the fundamentals first. Now we've all heard a million times that magic is about intent and-"
"You can't be serious." A voice called out and Daphne recognized Zacharias Smith. "We need to be practicing for our OWL's not learning what the first years learn." He said in his annoying overly confident manner.
"Why are you even here?" Snapped Ron. "If you're so clever why not just do this on your own?"
Before the blonde boy could retort Harry spoke up. "It's all right Ron. Smith stand up and stand over there." He commanded and the cocky Hufflepuff did as requested, his face reddening slightly under the class's scrutiny. When he was about 15 meters away from Harry he stopped and turned to face him.
"Okay everyone, so this is a controlled environment. No worry, no panic, just two people studying together. Now I want you to disarm me." He said to Smith and the boy rolled his eyes.
"We learn the disarming spell in third year." He retorted and Harry just nodded his head.
"You should know how to cast it then, or do I need to remind you?" Harry replied, a slight edge to his voice.
The Hufflepuffs face darkened, and he held his wand out before firing the curse at Harry with a shout of "Expelliarmus!" The red light of the spell looked weak and flew off to Harry's right missing him by a meter and a half.
"Not only were you inaccurate, but you casted the spell so poorly I doubt it could have stunned me even if it did hit me. You did that poorly in a controlled environment with no real threat, what would happen in the middle of a real fight? Where that spell is the difference between life and death." Harry said sharply, but not unkindly.
"That 'third year spell' that you were laughing at is the spell that I used to escape from Voldemort after our duel. But for it to be effective I had to be able to cast it effectively and accurately which you cannot do without understanding the fundamentals. Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted and a much stronger jet of crimson shot out of his wand and before Smith could duck or conjure a shield the spell struck him in the chest hard enough to knock him on his arse, and his wand flew through the air to Harry where he plucked it out of its trajectory in the graceful and easy manner only a skilled seeker could manage.
Harry walked to Smith and held out his hand helping the boy up and handing him his wand. "Does everyone understand the importance of why we're starting at the beginning?" When no one responded he continued. "Great, now like I was saying magic is about intent."
Harry went through the basic building blocks of defense with the class, much like he had with Daphne a month prior. When he had finished lecturing, he had them all stand and partner up as they prepared to practice the disarming spell. Daphne stood looking towards Astoria and Tracey only to see that they had partnered with one another. As she looked around the room, she saw everyone else had a partner except for herself. She turned and glared at the other two Slytherins who were smiling back at her "Traitors." She mumbled.
Just as she was about to go and join them anyway Harry touched her arm and said quietly "You'll be with me, let me just get everyone settled."
Daphne's stomach did a little flip and she thought maybe Tracey and Astoria weren't so bad after all as she was about to have the chance to be study partners with Harry for the second time in as many days. Harry turned to the class and told them that they would have one person casting the disarming curse while their partners cast shield charms to deflect the curses and then they would alternate.
Harry took a few moments correcting wand movements and stances before coming back to Daphne. "Sorry about that." He told her.
"Not a problem." She replied. "Are you ready to be awed and inspired by my incredible power and skill?" She asked him confidently and he laughed conjuring a shield. She sent the disarming spell his way using all of the tips and teaching he had given her and was proud to see a strong blast of crimson fly towards him and miss him narrowly. The spell hit the wall and the magic of the room caused the spell to dissipate without any damage.
Harry smiled at her with a proud look on his face. "That was really well cast Daphne, great job! When you cast point your toes where you want the spell to go and try to keep your wand movements just a little tighter, it will help with the accuracy."
She took his advice into account adjusting her stance and using a smaller area for the wand movements and sure enough her next spell caught Harry's shield square in the center before bouncing off and hitting the floor. Harry beamed at her.
They continued practicing making easy conversation before Harry called Ron and Hermione over and asked if they would work with her while he went back around the room. She continued practicing the two spells while she kept an eye on Harry.
He was going from duo to duo assisting in anyway he could and offering encouragement. Daphne couldn't help but think how great an instructor he actually was. That uneasy flipping in her stomach came back and she knew she had to tell him soon how she felt, otherwise she may catch him seriously off guard by doing or saying something that wasn't exactly friend-like.
Her wand being ripped from her hand pulled her from her thoughts and Ron sheepishly walked over to her and gave it back. "I'm sorry I didn't realize you weren't paying attention." He told her.
"No need to apologize, Ron." She said kindly "It was my fault for being distracted. Come on it's my turn." She turned back towards the redhead and cast her own disarming spell. If she could push a little more power into it, she thought she might be able to break his shield.
A/N: Part of the conversation regarding Harry hearing the prophecy was taken word for word or very closely from OOTP Ch. 37.
